The Caged Bird Flies Free
by Kalira69
Summary: Though she loves him fiercely, there are certain things Hinata cannot endure remaining unchanged as her wedding to Neji approaches. (Written for NejiHina Week, Day 4)


Written for Day 4 of NejiHina Week: Happily Ever After

* * *

Hinata steadied herself, then leapt down out of the branches onto the path, winding her way up to the training ground in plain view. Not that Neji couldn't have easily seen her if he chose to look, even were she concealed in the treetops, but it was only polite. Besides, she wasn't sure if he was training alone or with one of his old genin teammates today.

When she reached the top of the hill she found him facing off against Tenten, a veritable barrage of sharpened steel already flying for Neji. He shifted gracefully, flowing through the rain of weaponry without collecting so much as a nick.

Hinata moved to a better vantage point, but stayed quiet and out of the way, not interrupting.

Tenten grinned fiercely and twisted to unleash a pair of new scrolls at him, and Neji narrowed his eyes and moved smoothly into kaiten. Tenten was undaunted as she leapt higher, throwing more weaponry at a new angle, but Neji kept moving.

It was an incredible amount of energy, using kaiten repeatedly, but Hinata had to acknowledge that it might be the only way to keep from getting hacked to pieces before Tenten's assault. Neji was . . . impressive.

He always had been, though.

Hinata smiled slightly, watching as their battle wound down, though without any apparent victor, in truth. Tenten punched the air in triumph and Neji smiled slightly, giving a shallow bow of his head to Tenten and smoothing his hair as it fell forwards over his shoulder before looking down at the litter of weaponry surrounding him.

Hinata's gaze strayed over his face and up to his hitai-ate, and she bit her lip, her fingers tangling together before her.

"Hey, Hinata-chan!" Tenten called, waving. "Hello!"

Hinata smiled. "Tenten-san! Hello." She bowed shallowly, and Tenten laughed, moving towards either Hinata or some of her own scattered weaponry.

"Hinata." Neji greeted, voice low. He smiled, and he left off the honorific, but still bowed his head respectfully.

Hinata returned the gesture. "Neji. . ." She hesitated but kept the intimate address herself as well. "I am sorry to interrupt you. . ."

"No need to apologise." Neji said, picking his way through the litter of weapons on the ground. "We still need breaks, and we can't train this way too long, either of us. Even now." he admitted wryly.

"Man, isn't that the truth." Tenten half-muttered, just loud enough to be heard. "This is exhausting."

"The training, or the cleaning up and resealing between bouts?" Neji asked dryly, and she snorted. Neji turned back to Hinata. "Did you need something?" he asked her with another small smile.

"Ah, that is. . ." Hinata took a breath and steadied herself again forcefully. "I- May we speak alone?" she asked, glancing at Tenten. "It is not that-" she broke off.

Neji's brows rose, but he nodded. "If you wish, certainly." he agreed, reaching out to her.

Hinata smiled fleetingly and wrapped her hand around his elbow.

"Hey, go on if you want, it's not like you ever help me with these _anyway_. . ." Tenten said, waving a heavy spear at them.

"You threatened to gut the last person who tried to pick up some of your weapons." Neji said evenly, letting Hinata step close against his side. "I am no fool; those are _yours_ , you deal with them."

Tenten's glare dissolved into laughter again and she waved more cheerfully. "Smart man." she teased. "See you back here in two days?" she asked, and Neji nodded, confirming the arrangement.

"I didn't mean to disrupt your training time," Hinata said, though she followed willingly as Neji began to walk away from Tenten, off into the woods surrounding the open field they had been practising in, "nor for you to stop on my account."

"No, it's all right." Neji said immediately, shaking his head, the ends of his long hair flicking and tickling over the back of her arm. "We really can't train that way for long, that was about all we have in us, at least for today. You didn't disrupt anything." He paused, looking at her. "And you can come to speak with me whenever you like, Hinata." he added softly.

Hinata smiled slightly, lashes fluttering as she glanced away. "Thank you."

Neji reached up and, with only a moment's hesitation, stroked the backs of her fingers where they curled around his arm. They walked on in silence, though Hinata leaned a little closer to Neji, and he didn't drop his hand from where it rested now covering hers.

"Is this acceptable?" Neji asked, slowing in the middle of a small clearing, shaded by the broad trees but free of them, only lit a soft and dappled green by the sun streaming among their leaves. "We should be away from anyone here."

"This is perfect." Hinata agreed swiftly, giving him a shallow nod. "I wished to speak with you . . . privately."

"Of course." Neji tipped his head, looking down at her. "What, ah . . . what did you wish to speak of?" he asked.

Hinata was still trying to scrape up the right words to say . . . and the boldness to speak them. She smiled weakly. "I have . . . a gift for you." she said tentatively. "Or, not a _gift_ , it should not be-" Neji covered her mouth with his fingers, and she focused on his face again, surprised.

"You have something for me?" Neji asked, lowering his hand with a light caress to her cheek.

Hinata fought the rising flush she could feel and nodded.

"There was no need for that." Neji smiled, bowing his head slightly. "Something for the occasion of our. . ." he trailed off, a tiny flush colouring _his_ cheeks.

Hinata's smile steadied, but she paused and shook her head. "In a way, but it is not a wedding gift." She _had_ a wedding gift for Neji, actually, but calling _this_ a gift was . . . she couldn't stomach the thought. "Will you sit with me?" she moved a few steps away, to a stretch of soft-looking grass. Neji murmured agreement and followed her as she settled to the ground. "I. . . I can't explain before I finish." Hinata said apologetically.

Neji's brows rose, but after a moment he gave a slow nod. "What is it? Rather, what do you want me to do?"

"Ah. . ." Hinata flushed at the thought. "Would. . . Could you lie with your head in my lap?" she asked, and Neji's expression flashed straight into shock, then nearly blank. Hinata ducked her head, tangling her fingers together in her lap. "I'm sorry, that was too much of me, I asked. . . I need- If you can trust me, I can't really explain yet. It isn't. . ." She stopped as one of Neji's hands spread over hers, stilling them and tugging one away from the other.

"I will." Neji said, though he looked uncharacteristically awkward as he turned and gingerly lay back, his head coming to rest on her folded legs. Hinata smiled at him shyly, and a tiny smile curled his lips, the flush still clinging along his cheekbones. "I trust you." he said quietly. "It's all right, Hinata."

Hinata couldn't resist running her fingers over his long hair, soft and silky under her touch. She took a breath, meeting his eyes. "I. . ." She shook her head. "It won't . . . take long. It shouldn't." Hinata corrected; she hadn't exactly been able to practise, or test this.

She stroked his hair again, lightly, then carefully brought her hands to his hitai-ate, removing it. Neji's eyes widened, his face paling and his body tensing, and then he closed them, tiny wrinkles framing his eyes as a tremor ran through him. He didn't protest, however.

Hinata's mouth twisted with distress, and she traced a fingertip through the air over the cursed seal on his brow. She didn't voice an apology, although that was at least half because her throat was so thickly choked she didn't know if she could even speak. She took a breath, short and sharp, and activated Byakugan.

Hinata quickly began forming seals with her hands, running through the entire long sequence as she slowly pooled chakra in her fingertips, then extending just beyond them. She tapped her splayed fingers to the points of the seal on Neji's brow, channelling the chakra into it and-

Hinata felt a harsh tug deep in her chest, then an uncomfortable ripple through her whole being, and then the colour began to fade under her hand. In a moment the seal was gone entirely, and Hinata let her hand fall an instant before Neji tensed even further and bolted upright, twisting back to face her, hands braced on either side of him as though he would not be steady without them there.

Neji gasped out something that could have been _what_ but his voice was faint and Hinata wasn't entirely sure he had actually spoken.

"The caged bird flies free." Hinata said softly through the tightness in her throat, raising her chin and straightening her spine.

Neji put a hand to his brow as though he could feel the seal or its new absence, then dropped it as he swayed slightly on the spot, and Hinata trembled.

"I could never be happy with-" Hinata swallowed convulsively. "It was not right _before_ ," she said fiercely, hands curling tight into fists, "but this . . . our marriage gave me leverage I could use to get at the records of the seals." She drew herself up a little more.

Neji was staring at her, his eyes wide and his hands lax and open across his thighs. Hinata reached out, her own hands trembling a little as she opened them, and wrapped his hands in her grasp.

"They told me it wasn't important." Hinata said, though it made the sharp heat of anger flare inside her to think of it. "When I insisted that it was, they told me to wait until we were married," she continued, swallowing nervously, "but I could not bring myself to do so. I told them it didn't matter that we were not yet wedded. I said that. . ." She shook her head, then bowed it slightly. "Whatever they said to me, Neji, and whatever you - and I - agreed, I could not stand to hold my head high opposite you at our wedding and know that you were branded so and bound to serve so much as the slightest whim or risk agony and death, even at my hands."

"You have never used the seal." Neji said, his voice curiously flat.

"Of course not!" Hinata said, though she managed to keep from crying out the denial. Neji _knew_ that, it was not an accusation.

"I didn't know you knew the key." Neji said, his eyes focusing a little more sharply and meeting hers.

"Father- Father taught me when he confirmed me as heir." Hinata said, biting her lip. It had been right after the Chuunin Exams, though she had failed. His faith in her restored, or at least strengthened enough to confer his place one day to her. Hinata had been so pleased to have her father's confidence and pride, but learning the key to trigger the caged bird seal had made her feel sick.

Neji's eyes widened a little further, but he didn't speak again.

"Neji I. . ." Hinata fell silent, shaking her head slightly, worry creeping through her. "Are you all right?"

Neji blinked, then suddenly started to laugh, tugging his hands free of her grip. She flinched minutely, but didn't try to keep hold of them, pulling back a little. Then she startled as Neji moved towards her, sweeping her into his arms.

"Oh, Hinata." Neji laughed in her ear, tipping his head against hers. "Yes. Yes I am- I am very much all right." he promised, his voice warm this time, tone no longer flat and strange. "Thank you."

"Please- Please don't." Hinata said before she could catch the words back.

Neji leaned away, though his arms remained around her, and gave her a quizzical look. Her eyes darted to his brow, now completely unmarred by the dreadful seal he had borne for so long. "What? Do not-" Realisation dawned on his face. "Do not _thank_ you, for freeing me from-"

"No!" Hinata interrupted, louder than she meant, and shook her head, wincing. "Freeing you from. . ." She raised her eyebrows as she met his eyes again. "From a cruel and terrible seal with which you should never have been cursed? That _none_ of our Clan, our _family_ , should ever have to bear?"

"Hinata. . ." Neji said questioningly, freeing one hand from around her to cup her face and, she realised belatedly, wipe away a tear that had spilled down her cheek. "You. . . You cannot change our Clan alone." he said gently. "The way the Elders have-" he broke off with a choking sound.

"I cannot alone, and I cannot _now_ , but. . ." Hinata licked her lips. "Do you still. . . Do you still wish to be wed to me?" she asked in a tiny, soft voice, unable to make herself speak any louder.

Neji stared at her and her heart clenched painfully. This was part of why she had been unable to face a wedding with Neji still bearing the caged bird seal, however - he had consented to the marriage, had even been the one to ask her if. . . But Hinata had wanted him to have the freedom to refuse or deny whatever he chose, no matter _who_ in the Clan spoke, before they wed. _Needed_ him to have that freedom.

Even if it cracked her heart in-

Hinata gasped as Neji kissed her, arm tightening around her waist and dragging her up into his lap, his other hand cradling her jaw. Hinata settled into his lap, cheeks burning, and tentatively slid her hands over his shoulders to hold on to him in return. Neji deepened the kiss, all heat and wetness and gentle for all its intensity, and Hinata trembled in his arms, clinging to him. She held tight even as he slowly drew away.

"Hinata. . ." Neji said, his smooth voice lower than she had ever heard it, and slightly rough, like battered satin. "I love you."

Hinata's face flushed even hotter, and her heart thundered in her chest. She opened her mouth, but couldn't quite find her voice. Neji smiled at her and then lightly kissed her cheek, lowering his right hand to wrap both arms around her waist again. "I love you, and that is why I wished to wed you," he said quietly, "it was not something forced upon me, nor that I wouldn't have wished without being," he tipped his head, one hand moving briefly, then stilling by her spine once more, " _pushed_ into it."

Hinata swallowed, biting her lip, and hugged him tight around the shoulders. "I love you." she returned softly, running her fingers through his long hair. "So much."

Neji smiled, resting his brow against hers. She couldn't help a smile of her own.

"I must not thank you for this gift?" Neji asked, his expression and tone warm.

"It is not a gift, it is the freedom that was stolen from you." Hinata said fiercely. "I will not- I cannot- Do not thank me for this. Please." She faltered.

Neji hugged her tighter and gave her a soft kiss. "As you wish."

Hinata took a deep breath, putting her shoulders back. "I cannot change our Clan alone, countermand the Elders, change the way things have _always been done_ ," she said with a bitter twist pulling at her mouth, "I can change nothing at all now, not yet . . . not as Heir alone."

Neji nodded understanding, one thumb rubbing over her back in a slow arc.

"Once I am Clan Head, however," Hinata steeled herself, eyes narrowing slightly, "I _will_ change our Clan. I will _not_ stand alone; I will stand with my husband at my side," she raised her brows and looked at him as startlement flashed across his features, "if you will; the strongest son our Clan has produced in generations. And _we_ will change things, and no more birds will be caged, and no more family will torture and kill family."

Silence fell in the clearing as Hinata finished speaking, awareness filtering back in to her that she was cradled on Neji's lap, their bodies pressed close together. She swallowed nervously, her hands sliding a little further around Neji's shoulders.

"I have known for years," Neji said softly, "that you would rise to be a great Clan Head if you were allowed to take that place; when you speak like that our Clan _will_ bow to our Head, and willingly. Rightly so. Hinata . . . you are amazing."

Hinata's eyes widened, some of the steel slipping from her spine as her posture softened, almost leaning into him. "Neji, I-"

Neji kissed her lightly to silence her. "You were made for this," he said, "the Elders will bow as they have no choice; the Branch House will love you; the Main House will fall in willingly behind a Clan Head so strong and so sure. And yes," he added even more softly, with a slight smile, nudging his nose against hers, "I will stand at your side."


End file.
